Categoria: English

Liber-action: an action that liberates

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

Liberty is more than a faculty of the human being, the faculty of being able to choose, to have free will. Liberty is part of the essence of the human being. A slave, even without the ability to choose, does not stop being in essence a free human being. A slave can resist, can refuse, even rebel, and accept death.  No one can take that liberty from a slave.

Among the many definitions of liberty, I believe this is to me the most correct: Liberty is the capacity for self-determination.

All of us are born within a group of determinates: our ethnic group, social class, within a world already built and always being built. They are our determinates. No one is free of some dependency. It can be oppression, such as slave labor or salaried work.  A type of liberty is exercised by struggling against this: the liberty of rejecting this situation. It is the struggle for in-dependence and autonomy. One self-determines: accepts the determinates, but only to overcome and to be free of, to be free from, them.

But there is yet another meaning of liberty as self-determination: it is a strength that is internal, belonging only to that person, which allows one to be free to, to build one’s own life, to help transform the conditions of work and to create another type of enterprise where it is less difficult to be free from and to.  Here is seen the singularity of the human being, the builder of one’s own self, beyond the surrounding determinations. Liberty is a liber-action, this is, an autonomous action that creates the liberty that was once captive, or absent.

These two types of liberty have a personal, a social, and a global expression.

At the personal level, after the gift of life, liberty is the most precious gift we have: to be capable of self expression, of coming and going, of building our own vision of things, of organizing our lives, work and family to our taste and to choose our political representatives. The greatest oppression is to be deprived of this liberty.

At the social level, it shows its two faces: liberty as independence and as autonomy. The countries from Latin America and the Caribbean were independent from the colonizers, but that still did not bring autonomy and liberation. They remained dependant on the national elites, that maintained the bonds of domination. With resistance, protest, and organizing by the oppressed, a process of liberation was created, that, when victorious, gave autonomy to the popular classes, the liberty to organize another type of politics, one that benefits those who were always excluded. This happened in Latin America, beginning with the end of the military dictatorships that represented the interests of the national and international elites. A process of liberation to is also happening, not yet completed, but it is advancing a democracy born from below, and of a popular nature.

We also now need a double liberation: from economic-financial globalization, which exploits nature and the marginalized countries all over the world, and which is dominated by a group of large companies, that are stronger than most countries.  And a liberation towards a world government arising from this globalization in order to confront global problems such as climate change, water scarcity and the hunger of millions and millions of people. Absent such a collegial global government, we run the risk of a bifurcation of humanity between those who eat and those who do not, or who lack many necessities.

Finally, there is now an urgent need for a special type of liberty from, and liberty for. We live in the anthropocene geological era. This means that the greatest risk is not a low flying meteor, but the irresponsible and eco-murderous activity of human beings (anthropos). The prevailing system of capitalist production is destroying the Earth, and has created the conditions for the destruction of the civilization. Either we change, or we will face an abyss. We need to be free from this bio- and eco-cidal system, that threatens everything, in order to accumulate, and consume, more and more.

We also need a liberty to: liberty to teach alternatives that guarantee the production of what is necessary and dignified for us and for the entire community of life.  This is being sought and demonstrated by the good living of the Andean cultures, by eco-agriculture, by ecological family agriculture, by the index of happiness of society and by other aspects that respect the cycles of life. We want a bio-civilization.

As Christians we must also liberate the faith from fundamentalists visions, from authoritarian and machista ecclesiastical structures, so as to accomplish a liberty for women to be priests, for the lay to be able to decide the destinies of their community, together with the clergy, and for those who have a different sexual orientation. We need a Church that, together with other spiritual paths, helps educate humanity to respect the limits of the Land and to venerate Mother Earth, who provides us with everything. Let us hope that Pope Francis honors the legacy of Saint Francis of Assisi, who lived a great liberty from the traditions and for new forms of relating to nature and with the poor.

The struggle for liberty never ends, because it is never bestowed, but conquered, through an endless process of liber-action.

Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Francis of Rome and the Ecology of Saint Francis of Assisi

Leonardo Boff2 Comentários

It cannot be for nothing that a Pope takes the name of Francis. Besides being a reference to another model of being Church, closer to the manger of Bethlehem than to the palaces of Jerusalem, Francis of Assisi posits a theme that is of extreme urgency now: the question of protecting the vitality of planet Earth and guaranteeing the future of our civilization. Exterior ecology alone is insufficient for this purpose. We must amalgamate it with interior ecology. That is what Saint Francis of Assisi did in a pragmatic way.

Exterior ecology is that syntony between the rhythms of nature and the cosmic process that is realized in the dialectic of order-disorder-interaction-new order. This ecology assures the perpetuity of the process of evolution that includes the Earth and her biodiversity. But at the human level, it only occurs if there is a counter-weight from our side, one which derives from our interior ecology. Through that interior ecology, the universe and all its beings are within us, in the form of symbols that speak of the archetypes that guide us and of the images that inhabit our inwardness, and with which we must constantly dialogue and integrate. External violence is a sign of turbulence in our interior ecology, and vice versa. We do not know how to harmonize the ecologies described by Pierre-Felix Guattari and by myself: the environmental, social, mental and integral ecology.

In his Song of Brother Sun, Saint Francis reveals the fellowship of these two ecologies. His extraordinary spiritual accomplishment was to reconcile the world with God, heaven with Earth, and life with death. To understand this spiritual experience we must read the text at a level beyond its words, and delve down to the symbolic level, where the song of the elements is pregnant with emotion and meaning. The existential context is meaningful: Francis was very ill and almost blind, cared for by Saint Clare of Assisi in the chapel of San Damiano where she lived with her sisters. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, he had a sort of exaltation of the spirit, as if he were already in the Kingdom of heavens. Radiant with happiness, he stands up, composes a hymn to all creatures and sings it with his brothers and sisters. He celebrates the great nuptials of the “Lord Brother Sun” and the “Woman Sister Earth”. Of this union are born all beings, arranged in pairs, masculine and feminine, that according C.G. Jung, constitute the most universal archetype of the psychic totality: sun-moon, wind-water, fire-earth; a totality he reached in his spiritual journey.

The hymn contains two more stanzas, added by the Poverello. They no longer sing of the material cosmos, but the human cosmos that also seeks reconciliation: between the bishop and the major of Assisi. Finally he reconciles with sister death, the most difficult complexity to be integrated into human psychic framework. The human being reconciles himself with another human being. Life embraces death as a sister, the carrier of eternity.

The interior ecology integrated with the exterior ecology, find a privileged interpreter in Francis. Francis of Assisi is like a fine chord of the universe in which the most subtle musical note resounds and can be heard.

Our culture is indebted to the father of Saint Francis, Pedro Bernardone, a rich fabric merchant in search of wealth and splendor. As the great British historian Arnold Toynbee confesses: «Francis, the greatest man of the West, must be imitated by all of us, because his attitude is the only one that can save the Earth» (Diario ABC, Madrid, 19/12/1972,10).

What is our ideal? The one inspired by Francis of Assisi. That Francis of Rome is converted, by his humility, poverty and joviality, into a lover of Mother Earth and defender of all forms of life, especially of the most threatened, the life of the poor. And that he inspires that consciousness in humanity. Francis of Rome has all the charisma needed for him to become a beacon of ecological and humanitarian reference for all the world.

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, volar@fibertel.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.
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The Dream of a Truly Worldwide Civilization

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

The present helplessness that has overtaken a great sector of humanity derives in part from our inability to dream and imagine utopias. Not just any utopia, but those that are necessary and can be converted to topias, this is, to something that can be realized, if imperfectly, given the conditions of our history. Otherwise, our common future, the future of life and civilization, are in grave danger.

We must, then, try everything, so that we do not arrive too late to the true path that can save us. That path goes through caring, sustainability, collective responsibility and the spiritual meaning of life.

I take to heart the inspiring words of Oscar Wilde, the well known Irish writer, who said about utopia: «A world map that does not include utopia is not worth being seen, because it ignores the only territory where humanity always stops, and moves at once towards a land that is better still… Progress is the realization of utopias».

To project hope-filled scenarios pertains to the field of utopia. We will offer one, by Robert Müller, who for 40 years was a top official of the UN, and was also called «citizen of the world» and «father of global education». He was a man of dreams, one of them realized when in 1980 the UN created the University of Peace in Costa Rica, the only country in the world without an army, and he was its first president.

Robert Müller imagined a new retelling of the Biblical Genesis: the birth of a truly worldwide civilization, where, as a species, together with others, the human species assumes the mission of guaranteeing the sustainability of the Earth and of caring well for her and also for the Earth’s other beings. This is what he called, «The New Genesis»:

«And God saw that all the nations of the Earth, Black and White, rich and poor, from the North and from the South, from East and West, of every creed, sent their emissaries to a big glass building on the banks of the river of the Rising Sun, on Manhattan Island, to study together, to think together, and together to care for the world and for all its nations.

And God Said: “It is good” . And that was the first day of the New Era of the Earth.

And God saw that the soldiers of peace separated the combatants of the nations at war, that their differences were resolved through negotiation and reason and not with weapons, and that the leaders of nations got together, exchanged ideas and joined their hearts, their minds, their souls and their strength for the benefit of all of humanity.

And God said: “It is good” . And that was the second day of the Planet of Peace.

And God saw that the humans loved all of Creation, the stars and the sun, the day and the night, the air and the oceans, the land and the waters, the fish and the birds, the flowers and the trees, and all their human brothers and sisters.

And God said: “It is good” . And that was the third day of the Planet of Happiness.

And God saw that humans had eradicated hunger, disease, ignorance and suffering from all over the Earth, offering to each person a decent life, conscious and happy, controlling greed, force, and the wealth of the few.

And God said: “It is good” . And that was the fourth day of the Planet of Justice.

And God saw that humans lived in harmony with their planet and at peace with everyone else: using their resources wisely, avoiding waste, limiting excess, substituting love for hate, satisfaction for greed, humility for arrogance, cooperation for division, and understanding for suspicion.

And God said: “It is good” . And that was the fifth day of the Planet of Gold.

And God saw that the nations had destroyed their weapons, their bombs, their missiles, their warships and planes, deactivating their bases and demobilizing their armies, maintaining only a peace-keeping police force, to protect the good from the bad and the sane from the mentally ill.

And God said: “It is good” . And that was the sixth day of the Planet of Reason.

And God saw that humans retook God and the human person as their Alpha and Omega, reducing institutions, beliefs, politics, governments and other human entities to their roles as simple servants of God and of the people. And God saw them adopting as the supreme law that which says: «Love the God of the Universe with all your hearth, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. You will love your beautiful and marvelous planet and will treat it with infinite care. You will love your human brothers and sisters as you love yourself. There are no commandments bigger than these».

And God said: “It is good”. And that was the seventh day of the Planet of God».

If at the gates of Dante Alighieri’s hell was written: «Leave behind all hope, you who enter here», at the door of the new civilization in the era of the Earth and of the planetary world will be written in all the tongues that exist on the face of the Earth: «Never ever abandon hope, you who enter here».

The future passes through this utopia. Its dawn is already announced.

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, volar@fibertel.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Francis disrobes to cover the nakedness of the Pope

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

Historians know that Innocence III, (1198-1216), the Pope of the time of Saint Francis, took the papacy to an apogee and splendor such as never had been before nor would ever be again. A skillful politician, he turned all the kings, emperors and feudal lords, with few exceptions, into his vassals. Under his regency there were two supreme powers: the Empire and the Priesthood. Being the successor of Peter, the fisherman, meant little to him. He declared himself «representative of Christ», but not of the poor Christ, who walked the dusty paths of Palestine, a peregrine prophet, announcer of a radical utopia, the utopia of the kingdom of unconditional love towards his fellow human beings and God, a kingdom of universal justice, of boundless fraternity and of compassion without limit. His Christ was the Pantocrator, Lord of the Universe, head of the Church and of the Cosmos.

This vision favored the building of a monarchistic, powerful and rich Church, but one that was absolutely secularized, contrary to everything in the Gospel. That reality only served to provoke a contrary reaction from the people. Pauperism movements appeared, of rich lay people who acted like the poor. They preached the Gospel on their own in the popular tongue: the Gospel of poverty against the pomp of the courts, the Gospel of radical simplicity against the sophistication of the palaces, the worship of the Christ of Bethlehem and the Crucifixion against the exaltation of the all powerful Christ the King. They were the Valdense, the poor of Lyon, the followers of Francis, of Dominic and of the Seven Serfs of Mary, of Florence, noble people turned mendicants.

In spite of all the pomp, Innocence III was sensitive to Francis and his twelve ragged companions who visited him, in his palace of Rome, to ask for permission to live according to the Gospel. Moved and remorseful, the Pope granted them oral permission. It was the year 1209. Francis would never forget this generous gesture.

But history has its turns. What is true and imperative, when it reaches maturity, reveals itself with volcanic force. And it revealed itself in 1216 in Perugia, Italy, when Pope Innocence III went to one of his palaces.

Suddenly the Pope died, after 18 years of a triumphant pontificate. Soon the mournful sounds of the Gregorian chants were heard coming from the pontifical cathedral. The grave planctum super Innocentium («the cry for Innocence») was intoned.

Nothing stops death, lady of all vanities, of all pomp, of all glory and of all triumph. The casket of the Pope lay in front of the main altar covered with tinsel, jewels, gold, silver and the signs of the twin powers, the sacred and the secular. Cardinals, emperors, princes, monks and lines of the faithful followed one another in vigil. Bishop Jacques de Vitry, from Namur and later named Cardinal of Frascati, related the following.

It is midnight. All retire aggrieved. Only the flickering light of the candles project phantoms on the walls. The Pope, in another time always surrounded by the nobility, is now alone in the darkness. And unexpectedly thieves enter secretly into the cathedral. They quickly strip the corpse of all the precious clothing, all the gold, silver and pontifical symbols.

There lies a naked body, already almost in decomposition. It becomes true what Innocence III once wrote in a famous text on «the misery of the human condition». Now it reveals itself with all its crudity. in its true condition.

A poor man, dirty and miserable, had hidden himself in a dark corner of the cathedral to maintain the vigil, to pray and to spend the night close to the Pope. He took off his ragged and dirty tunic, the tunic of penance, and with that tunic he covered the shame of the reviled corpse.

Sinister is the destiny of the wealthy, grandiose the gesture of poverty. The first did not save him from looting, but the second saved him from shame.

And so concludes Cardinal Jacques de Vitry: «I entered the Church and understood, with full faith, how brief is the deceitful glory of this world».

The one whom everyone called Poverello and Fratello said nothing and thought nothing. He only acted. He disrobed to cover the nakedness of the Pope who had once sanctioned his way of living. He was Francis of Assisi, the inspiration of Pope Francis of Rome.

Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.